Hello everyone!
Another month has gone by, and quite a bit has been happening behind the scenes with Stellar Navigator.
In the last developer update, I showed off some mockups for several of the systems planned for the next stage of development. This month has largely been about taking those concepts and getting the underlying systems in place to make them work. There is still quite a bit left to do, but the Object Information Control in particular is starting to come together, so I wanted to take some time to talk about where things are heading.
The Object Information Control
Work on the backend required to bring the mockups shown in the previous update to life is now well underway. One of the first major pieces to become functional is the new Custom Details system for the Object Information Control window, or OIC. Once a custom field has been created, that field becomes available across every planet in the galaxy, and each planet can then have its own value assigned to it.
Just like the existing information sidebar, empty information does not clutter the interface. If a planet has no value assigned to a particular field, that field simply will not appear while viewing the planet in the OIC Read Mode.
The idea is to give galaxy creators considerably more freedom over what information is important in their setting without requiring Stellar Navigator itself to anticipate every possible use case.
Hologram View
The OIC is also getting something I've wanted to experiment with for a while: a live view of the selected planet.
Rather than simply showing a static image, the control displays the planet as a holographic projection, giving the information screen a little more life and helping it feel like an actual terminal within the setting.
I'm still experimenting with the presentation, and the holographic effect will likely be optional through a toggle for anyone who prefers a cleaner view of the planet.
There are still some visual details to work through, but I really like the direction this is taking.
Percentage Graphs Are Next
The next major piece of the Object Information Control will be the percentage graph controls shown in the earlier mockups.
These will allow a user to define both an upper value and a current value, with Stellar Navigator calculating and displaying the resulting graph visually.
For instance:
Population Capacity
Current: 4.2 Billion
Maximum: 6 Billion
or:
Survey Completion
Current: 72
Maximum: 100
Combined with the custom detail fields, this should make the Object Information Control much more flexible than the existing fixed information panels.
What's Ahead - A Galactic Encyclopedia
This one is still quite a ways into the future, but I wanted to share a little bit about where all of this is ultimately heading. Once both the Object Information Control and Faction Creation systems are online, I would like to begin exploring a galaxy-wide encyclopedia. The idea is that, rather than having to enter every solar system to inspect its planets, asteroid belts, stations, users would be able to browse their galaxy from a central database.
What's Ahead - Stellar Navigator 1.0
There is also something a little larger that I want to start talking about and that is: Stellar Navigator is approaching 1.0.
The current plan is for Stellar Navigator to leave Early Access toward the end of this year... Seems like that came a lot faster than I was expecting.
Over the last couple years, Stellar Navigator has changed enormously. Systems have been rebuilt, ideas have grown well beyond their original scope (because who doesn't like a little scope creep?), and many features that exist today simply weren't part of the original plan. All of this has been thanks to the wonderful feedback and ideas shared by the Stellar Navigator community. Amongst all of this change, there has always been a set of major pillars that I felt needed to exist before I could consider Stellar Navigator a complete foundation. Those pillars are now either completed or approaching completion.
Like any good story, the early access development of Stellar Navigator has had its chapters. Closing off early access is just the end of one story in a series yet to be written. The Ideas Board alone contains more concepts than I could have ever possibly considered, and some of the things suggested by the community have opened entirely new directions that I would love to explore. So while 1.0 will mark the end of Stellar Navigator's Early Access period, it will certainly not mark the end of its journey.
I'm even more excited about what can be built on top of the foundation been building together. As always, thank you to everyone who has followed development, tested builds, reported problems, shared screenshots, suggested ideas, or simply checked in from time to time.
Now, It's back to work for me.
Until next time. Keep looking to the stars!